INVASION USA

Complaints against maternity hotels surging

Used by foreigners to gain U.S. citizenship for babies

(ABC NEWS) Los Angeles County is planning a crackdown on makeshift maternity wards where mothers from other countries stay while giving birth so their children will be U.S. citizens.

The county has received 60 complaints about such facilities in the past month, according to a report by the Planning Department submitted to the Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/WjcRMg) reported Sunday.

That compared to just 15 complaints in the previous five years. The surge might be due to publicity over the closure of a house in Chino Hills that authorities contended had been used to house as many as 30 Chinese women.